Trust
Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal, known in Japan as Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen (追憶編 Recollection or Reminiscence?), is a four-part OVA (Original Video Animation) that serves as a prequel to the Rurouni Kenshin anime series. It was released in Japan in 1999, and was directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi and written by Masashi Sogo. Its initial English dub release was distributed by ADV Films under the title Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal. Later on, the OVA was re-released as a compilation movie (labeled as a "Director's Cut" by ADV Films) that features an altered music score and an extended ending sequence. The OVA is based on chapters 165 to 179 of the Rurouni Kenshin manga, by Nobuhiro Watsuki. It chronicles the story of Himura Kenshin during his role in the Meiji Restoration as a legendary assassin of the Imperialist cause; while also revealing the origins of his famous cross-shaped scar, and exploring his relationship with his first wife, Himura Tomoe. Kenshin's first encounters with his master, Hiko Seijūrō XIII, and his rival/future ally, Saitō Hajime, are also depicted.[1] Since its release, the OVA has received near-universal critical acclaim from various critics and publications for manga, anime and other media. It remains highly popular among anime fans and it is widely credited as one of the greatest OVAs of all time.[ Plot When a raid of murderous bandits ambush a caravan of travelers in late-1850s Japan, a young redhead boy named Shinta becomes the sole survivor of this massacre when a passing swordsman slays all of the bandits before they can also kill the boy. The swordsman, known as Hiko Seijūrō, is a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū; the strongest of all sword forms. Hiko is impressed when the boy buries all of the dead (including the bandits), and decides to take Shinta as his apprentice. He then renames the boy Kenshin, a name he considers to be more appropriate for a swordsman. After several years of training, Kenshin leaves his master, convinced that the only way to uphold the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū's pledge to help the weak and innocent is to fight in the Bakumatsu revolution poised to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. He joins the Chōshū Ishin Shishi and soon works for their leader, Katsura Kogorō, as an assassin. Kenshin quickly becomes a hardened killer, feared far and wide as the Hitokiri Battōsai. In 1864, during a successful nighttime assassination in the streets of Kyoto, he kills a bodyguard named Kiyosato Akira. This encounter with Kiyosato leaves Kenshin with the first half of his cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. After killing a fellow skilled assassin sometime later, Kenshin meets a beautiful woman named Tomoe, unaware that she was Kiyosato's fiancee. Kenshin contemplates killing her for witnessing his actions, but decides to instead take her to the inn that he and other swordsmen of the Chōshū clan are residing. Tomoe agrees to stay and work as one of the inn's servants. Katsura suspects a spy among the Chōshū after Kenshin informs him of the assassin he killed. During this time, Kenshin and Tomoe grow close to each other, as she comes to realize how tortured he is on the inside over his role as an assassin and she, in turn, helps him slowly regain his humanity. After the Ikedaya incident in Kyoto, Katsura arranges for Kenshin and Tomoe to hide in the remote village of Otsu as a married couple, so they would not look suspicious. After a few months living in peace together, Tomoe's brother, Enishi, comes to visit their house and secretly reveals to his sister that the Shogunate agents assigned to track down and kill Kenshin are close by, and that they will soon avenge her fiancee. Tomoe sends Enishi off, feeling ill at ease. It is by this time that Tomoe has truly fallen in love with Kenshin (and he with her), and no longer seeks revenge. The next morning, Tomoe leaves their house while Kenshin is still asleep and she tries to deceive the Shogunate men into giving up their pursuit of Kenshin; when this fails, she unsuccessfully attempts to kill their leader. After his wife's disappearance, Kenshin is visited by a comrade who tells him that Tomoe is the spy they were looking for and that she is meeting at that moment with her co-conspirators. He also reveals to Kenshin who Tomoe's fiancee was. Kenshin, however, is unaware that it is this comrade of his who is the real spy among the Chōshū clan. While heading to Tomoe's location, a heavily-shocked Kenshin faces and kills three of the four Shogunate agents but becomes badly injured due to his traumatized state. While Kenshin is fighting with the agents' leader (a fist fighter), Tomoe steps in between the two to protect Kenshin from the leader's killing blow. This allows Kenshin to kill his enemy but, in doing so, unintentionally strikes down Tomoe with his sword as well. Before she dies in her husband's arms, Tomoe gives him the second half of his cross-shaped scar. Kenshin is devastated by Tomoe's death and later vows to never kill again in honor of her life, after bringing about the new age desired by Katsura for Japan. Katsura informs Kenshin that he had a new assassin kill the real spy and take over all further assassination jobs for the Chōshū clan, but requests that Kenshin now serve as a guerrilla swordsman to help fight the Shogunate more directly on the front lines. During these final years of the Bakumatsu, Kenshin clashes with the Shinsengumi captains Okita Sōji and Saitō Hajime, among others, while Tomoe's spirit is seen comforting him in his sleep. After the Shogunate's final defeat in the late 1860s, the Hitokiri Battōsai vanishes; leaving his blood-stained sword behind. Differences from the Manga Trust & Betrayal features several differences from the flashback chapters in the Rurouni Kenshin manga. Perhaps the most obvious change is the OVA's lack of comic relief that the manga and anime are famous for, which is largely due to the OVA's more "realistic" style and design. Other differences include: *'Kenshin's first scar': In the OVA, after Kenshin receives the first half of his cross-shaped scar on his face from Tomoe's fiancee, the wound bleeds over and over again with each subsequent kill he commits for a while; possibly as a sign of his guilty subconscious, though it is suggested to him on a more superstitious level that the vengeful spirit of the dead man who gave him the scar is causing its continuous bleeding. In the manga, however, the scar does not ever re-open after Kenshin receives it. *'Tomoe's personality': In the manga, Tomoe is portrayed as being a very emotionally-reserved character who typically keeps her thoughts to herself and rarely smiles, even before her fiancee was murdered by Kenshin. The OVA's version of Tomoe is similar to this, but still more emotional in comparison. *'The Ikedaya incident': In the manga, this massacre happens while Kenshin and Tomoe are relaxing together at the Chōshū clan's inn. In the OVA, Kenshin and Tomoe are out on a date during a Kyoto festival before Kenshin learns of this ambush and attempts to assist his comrades, but arrives too late due to running into a group of Shinsengumi on the way and is forced to kill them all right in front of Tomoe. *'Kenshin and Tomoe's marriage': In the manga, Kenshin outright proposes to Tomoe before they leave Kyoto; stating that he does not want their marriage to be just a charade for their living-together in the country. The OVA, however, lacks this moment, and their marital status afterwards is arguably less clear as a result. The English dub of the OVA seems to make it appear even more so that they are not officially married, as Kenshin asks Tomoe if she'll marry him "really" during their last night together in the dub. *'Kenshin's grave discovery': In the manga, Kenshin does not find out that he killed Tomoe's fiancee until after her death. In the OVA, he learns of this beforehand, which puts him in a state of shock as he heads out to follow her into the snowy forest and fights off the Shogunate agents. His scar notably starts bleeding again after he makes this discovery in the OVA. *'Kenshin's second scar': In the OVA, Tomoe purposely cuts the second half of Kenshin's cross-shaped scar on his face with her dagger before she dies in his arms. In the manga, however, Tomoe seemingly cuts Kenshin's cheek by accident as she falls into his arms after being struck down by his sword. *'Tomoe's funeral': In the manga, Kenshin buries Tomoe's ashes off-screen in a Kyoto cemetery, which he revisits years later to bring flowers to her grave. In the OVA, however, Tomoe's body is cremated when Kenshin burns down their house, along with the spinning top he'd kept since childhood, before returning to Kyoto while keeping her blue shawl with him as a constant reminder of her presence. After the end of the revolution in the OVA, Kenshin leaves the shawl wrapped around one of the planted wooden crosses at the graveyard he made as a child where he first met his master; forming a makeshift grave for Tomoe. English dub errors/changes *Kenshin's comrades and superiors address him by his given name in the dub, rather than "Himura". *Tomoe's name is pronounced "Tomo" in the dub. *Okita refers to Saitō as "Master" in the dub, even though they were of equal rank within the Shinsengumi. *The Shinsengumi and Mibu Wolfs are stated to be two separate factions in the dub, instead of the same. *As previously stated, Kenshin and Tomoe's marriage is seemingly portrayed in the dub as unofficial. *Kenshin's eulogy to Tomoe in the dub is made to be more emotionally and romantically driven than its original script; this may be out of consideration of differences in romantic culture, as while Japan is reserved in its outward mannerisms, subtlety and knowing of context is far more valued, while out west, communicating emotions expressively is considered a healthy aspect of a relationship. *Kenshin states to Katsura after Tomoe's death in the dub that he will never wield a sword again after the end of the Meiji Revolution, rather than stating that he will simply never kill again after the war ends (as his later use of a Sakabatō would allow him to continue being a swordsman without the risk of killing again). Gallery Kenshin and Tomoe at Lake Biwa.jpg|Kenshin and Tomoe. Katsurakorogo1.jpg|Katsura Kogorō. Shinsengumi.png|The Shinsengumi. Tomoe_and_sad_Enishi_in_Trust_&_Betrayal_OVA.jpg|Tomoe and Enishi. Love's_night_of_Tomoe_and_Kenshin_in_Trust_&_Betrayal_OVA.jpg|Kenshin and Tomoe in love. Category:OVA Category:Anime